Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The true souvenir / To be present

As a family we have an opportunity to create the priority list that is unique to us. Travel has always been one of our important family priorities to gain life lessons.

We believe in traveling because every trip we take (whether small or big) brings so much insight into life and everyday. It helps us see the world in fresh perspectives. It gives us opportunities to witness how people live and organize their lives in different parts of the world.

We never know what we might take away from each trip until we are actually in it... or until we come home. Sometimes we get home with thoughts that will change the course of our family's path... and sometimes we come home looking forward to making small adjustments to our everyday routine to bring more inspiration into our home life in Los Angeles.

On last Thursday we came back from our Hawaii trip. I am surprised to feel the amount of impact which this trip has made to me. Leading up to this trip had particularly emotional days with an incident that brought up the question of the fragility in life. So while we were on our flight from LAX, I jot down a lot of lingering thoughts on my Traveler's Notebook... as well as hopes and dreams for this trip.

One of my personal pledge was to take a positive break from Instagram while we were in Hawaii. Not "check in" Instagram during the day so I can fully be present with my family and with myself. I did dedicate 1-2 hours every night to follow-up on any email correspondence needed as well as share some of the highlights from the day on our Instagram feed. It was such a nice change of pace from our everyday in Los Angeles. I had so much more space in my mind and felt connected with my travel companions - my sister, her boyfriend (they were a part of the first 1/2 of our trip) and of course with Coco, Satchi and Frido.

During our time there, I wondered why can't I do this at home? It inspires me to share bits and pieces of our life everyday but does it really need to be so instant? I left using Facebook last summer and without hesitation it has been the best choice I made in 2015. Today when I think of someone or have questions or thoughts that need to be shared, I just make a plan to see the person, send a personal message or write a letter instead of going through the social media. And I really look forward to what our friends and families want/need to share in person... what flows out as an 2-way conversation and authentically felt at the moment without having so much prewritten noise or bias around particular events or feelings.

Many "marketing people" who specialize in social media for business tell the company that we need to be consistent with posts and their frequencies. Yes. My Instagram feed is closely tied to Baum-kuchen because it speaks volume about what we believe as Baum-kuchen lifestyle as a whole... but those suggestions never really sat well with me.

So why not follow my own gut feeling and philosophy of when, what and where to share and bring home some of the travel rituals that resonated with me? I will miss a part of engagement in real time but in exchange I will gain more space to feel inspired and be creative.

Moving forward you might notice that some days of the week (particularly on my non-BK days)... I will be posting multiple pictures at night instead of posting them individually at the moment of occurrence. Posting images in a batch never felt authentic to me before but it makes sense and it feels the most true to my life and everyday today. I am looking forward to discovering more in life and in Baum-kuchen as it unfolds in front of me.